


Not So Different

by detectivejigsaw



Category: Gravity Falls, Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Angst, Gen, Honest Conversation, Just a little thing I've been thinking about for a while, Pearl needs a hug, Plot What Plot, Stan Pines Needs A Hug, These two are both major woobies, drabble-ish
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-28
Updated: 2020-10-28
Packaged: 2021-03-08 22:48:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 910
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27244480
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/detectivejigsaw/pseuds/detectivejigsaw
Summary: Stan acknowledges one day that despite how different he and Pearl are, in at least one respect they are very sadly similar.My first time trying to write anything Steven Universe-related; apologies for any egregious errors that might take place.  I'm still in season 3, so...Set probably pre-Weirdmageddon but still season 2 GF, and I dunno when it would be in the SU timeline.  Just at some point after Peridot becomes a Crystal Gem.
Relationships: Ford Pines & Stan Pines, Stan Pines & Pearl (Steven Universe)
Comments: 5
Kudos: 40





	Not So Different

**Author's Note:**

> I don't really have a definite plan for how this situation would have come about; mostly I just wanted this conversation to happen and just made up the circumstances around it as I went. If anyone has any ideas, I'm happy to hear them.
> 
> Also, I feel like the SU-verse is in a different dimension from the GF one, and somehow the Crystal Gems ended up there by accident and now they're trying to get home.

From the moment they met, Stan and Pearl did not like each other.

At all.

He and Amethyst got along just fine, which honestly everyone saw coming a mile away. He was okay with Garnet, even if he was annoyed when she wouldn’t use her future vision to help him with that week’s lottery numbers. He even tolerated Peridot and her...slight lack of a proper grasp of how to properly interact with humanity. But it seemed like every time he and Pearl interacted, the conversation would end with them sniping at each other over Stan’s poor hygiene and general greedy behavior, or Pearl’s persnickety obsessive compulsiveness and bossiness, or something else altogether that would just drive both of them crazy. Since a lot of his time not fighting with her was spent either fighting with Ford or both of them just bristling like cats whenever they were in each other’s presence, this was making for a very tense household.

And then, one day, he and Pearl were alone in the gift shop.

Wendy had gone to help Mabel and her friends go get some unicorn hair to protect the house, and when Steven found out that unicorns were real of course he’d wanted to tag along. Meanwhile, Ford had taken Dipper downstairs to do something or other, and the other gems were out back trying to fix their ship with Soos’s help, so Pearl was doing some tidying up while Stan emptied out the cash register. Maybe it was the gem’s imagination, but it seemed like lately he took every chance he got to squirrel away this “money” that humans seemed to think was so important.

Unfortunately they had quickly gotten into a small disagreement over the arrangements of some of the merchandise; Pearl thought that the things should be symmetrically placed, with two racks of shirts in the center of the room and everything else neatly put behind them, while Stan said they should just be left as they were, and not to touch them if she knew what was good for her. Pearl tried to point out that he was in no position to make threats against her, since she was a centuries-old being with more combat ability in her pinky than he did in his entire old, wrinkly body; Stan just retorted that he didn’t care  _ how _ much experience with fighting she had, he was the one in charge of where his merchandise was and it was to  _ stay _ that way.

Pearl growled in frustration, and threw up her hands.

“Ugh, you are  _ just _ like Amethyst!”

Stan leaned his elbow on the counter. “Lady, I take that as a compliment.”

“It’s not supposed to be! You have no sense of organization or respect for authority! I have no idea how we’re supposed to work together, since you can’t even fuse to make up for your other deficiencies!”

He pretended to yawn. “Ooh, ow, you’re just breaking my heart.”

Pearl threw down the shirt she’d been holding, and stormed out of the gift shop.

A few seconds later she came back in, picked it up, hung it neatly on the rack where she’d gotten it from, and then stormed out again.

* * *

She ended up going out in the front and practicing with her spear for a while until she felt calm again.

Pearl returned the weapon to her gem, and after taking a few deep breaths she went back inside.

Stan was still in the gift shop where she’d left him-maybe it was her imagination, but he looked almost contrite when he saw her enter.

Pearl felt her face heat up, and quickly became interested in pretending to dust the shelf with the snow globes on it.

“Y’know,” Stan’s gravelly voice said after a second, “as different as we are, we got at least one thing in common.”

Pearl gritted her teeth, and looked up at him. “I find that hard to believe, but what is it?”

She wasn’t prepared at all for his response: “We both dedicated our lives ta someone who didn’t love us as much as we loved them.”

Her jaw dropped; she couldn’t help it.

She hadn’t-they’d been forced to tell the Pines family about Rose Quartz and the Diamonds and the whole war for their earth, but she’d never actually said-

Stan looked at her; there was no smugness in his expression, just a kind of grim sadness. “I know how ta read people, Stretch. It’s obvious.”

The nickname felt like less of a means of annoying her than usual. She looked down at her hands self-consciously.

After a second Stan added, “And we both wanna protect our kids. So I guess that’s two things.” It sounded like he was trying to quickly change the subject.

Pearl exhaled loudly. “Yes, I suppose that’s true.” She slowly raised her head and met his gaze again. “...I suppose I was overstepping my bounds with all...this.” She gestured at the merchandise.

Stan nodded. “Yeah, just a little.” But the corner of his mouth turned up, so there was no real bite to the words. Then, looking more resolute, he produced the broom. “Looks like Soos’s gonna be helping your pals out with that thing for a while, so you wanna sweep the floor for him?”

Pearl brightened, and snatched the broom. “Yes please!”

* * *

Neither of them noticed when the secret door behind the vending machine, which had started to creak open, slowly closed again.

**Author's Note:**

> ...It wasn't too painful to read, was it?


End file.
